Regardless of your background in design, we are here to teach you the basics in creating your first artwork for your t-shirt campaign. With countless tools and resources online, you don’t need to have a 4-year degree to understand the basics.

Foundation:

Before creating your design, first find your nicheand develop your ideaby looking through the eyes of your target audience. Once you have ideas on what you would like to design, you will need software to create your graphics. The following are programs you can use to design your shirts:

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe Illustrator

Inkscape (Free)

Once you’ve selected a piece of software, create a new project and start with some basic settings:

Color Mode: RGB, 8-bit

Resolution: 300 DPI

Sizing: Standard 17.5" x 19", Oversized 19”x 25”, All-over 40” x 35”

T-Shirt Basic Elements:

After setting up your foundation, consider three basic elements with your shirt: Text, Color, and Graphics. Test different ink colors, font types, graphic placement and see how results compare.

Text:Even the simplest ideas work. Sometimes stripping down the design and keeping it concise is more attractive than adding a The following are prime examples of some of the most viral and top selling designs that follow this idea:

Color:Colors evoke different emotions. Try using colors that match what the shirt is saying.

Without the right color combination, your tee could be an instant flop. When the graphic colors are similar to the garment color, it may become hard to read. Contrasting brighter colors with darker tones can help make your design pop, e.g. white on black, yellow on navy, etc.